Valve arrangement



July 1, 1,941.

|: f F. WARNER VALVE ARRANGEMENT Fm'd Apm s, 193e Inventor;

` Donald F1 War-new,

His AttOT-'ney Patented July 1, 1941 vlnivn ARRANGEMENT Donald F. Warner, Swampscott, Mass.,assignor to Generall Electric (Iompany,v a corporationy ofl New York Application April 8, 1938, Serial No. 200,939

- 7 Claims.

The present invention relates to valve arrangements comprising a casing forming a valve seat in cooperative relation with a movable valve member which may be in the form of a disk secured to a stem.` In many arrangements the valve stem is subject to side thrusts causing rapid wear of the stem and guide elements associated therewith. The sidethrust on the stem maybe caused by fluid flowing through the valve casing crit-may be due to bending imposed on the stem in case of an unsymmetrical valve arrangement, as is disclosed, for example, in my copending application, Serial No. 179,169, led Dec. 10, 1937, and assigned to the same assignee as the present application.-

The object of my invention is to provide an improved construction of valve arrangements whereby rapid wear of the stem and guide is considerably reduced. 'Ihe shortcoming in the usual construction wherein a cylindrical round stem is guided in a cylindrically-bored bushing is that the contact surface between the outer surface of the stem and the inner surface of the bushing approaches a line or even point contact when clearances are enlarged to take care of temperature changes and growth of parts. Small clearances are generally not practicable. The greater the clearance, the greater the unit loading, and as a consequence the wear of the valve stem guide. These drawbacks are overcome in accordance with my invention by the provision of a valve stem which has a portion pclygonally-shaped in cross section and a plurality of guide blocks having plane surfaces engaging the plane surfaces of the polygonallyshaped stem portion and cylindrically-shaped surfaces engaging a cylindrical wall of the valve casing. Y

For a better understanding of what I believe to be novel and my invention, attention is directed to the following description and the claims appended thereto in connection with the accompanying drawing.

In the drawing, Fig. 1 illustrates a valve arrangement embodying my invention, and Fig. 2 is a sectional view along line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

The arrangement comprises a valve chest or casing I which forms a valve seat II and a movable valve member, in the present instance a conically-shaped disk I2 in cooperative relation with the seat I I and secured to a valve stem I3. The upper portion of the stem I3 projects through an opening in a flanged guide I4 secured by a plurality of bolts I5 to the casing I0. The valve disk I2 is secured to an intermediate thestructure. The four plane surfaces ofV` the portion of the stem I3 and the lowerA portion ofv the stem is supported by a special guide in accordance with my invention. As shownv in the drawing, the stem has a polygonally-shaped' member or vportion I'G'attached to it.V This portion is square in cross sectionl in thepresent in stance and is formed by' a sleeve secured to a reduced end portion 'of the stem 'by' mean'sfofv a nutl II. The width of the nutfis smallerfthan` that of the sleeve'lf tofacilitate lass'en'ib-ly--of square stem portion I Gl'are each engaged :by guide blocks I8; I9," 20 and'A2I respectively; 'i Each l of these guide lblocks` has a plainey surface 22 fen-l gaging one of theplane surfaces of the'squareshaped stemportionA andan outer cylindricallyshaped surface 2 3 bearing against a cylindrical hanged casing porti/onu; The'pfour blocklslare retained in position by-"a'I ring'25 secured tothe hanged casingportion 24 by a plurality of bolts 26. The guide blocks I8 to 2|, inclusive, are rockingly held on the flanged casing portion 24. Preferably I provide a slight clearance of the order of 5 mils, as indicated at 21. If during operation the valve stem is subject to side thrust or bending forces, such thrust or forces are taken up by the entire area of the plaine surfaces of one Vor two guide blocks engaging these squareshaped stem portions. Thus, if the stem is subject to side thrust vacting from the left towards the right in the drawing, such thrust will be taken up by the entire plane surface of the guide block 20, and if the valve stem is subject to side thrust acting at an angle of 45 from the lower left-hand corner in the drawing, the thrust will be taken up by the combined plane surfaces of the guide blocks I9 and 20. To assure that the plane surfaces of the guide blocks completely engage the corresponding surfaces of the valve stem', I provide the aforementioned clearance 21 and in addition I provide the guide blocks with cylindrical surfaces 23 which have diameters smaller than the diameter of the cylindrical surface of the valve portion 24 to permit a slight rodking movement of the guide blocks on their support 24.

Thu-s, with my arrangement I have eliminated the possibility of excessive loading per unit area of the valve stem and its guide. The forces acting on the guide blocks I8 to 2|, inclusive, are transmitted to the flanged casing portion 24. Slight wear of the cylindrically-.shaped portions of the guide blocks or segments and the cylindrical wall of the flanged casing portion 24 doesV movable valve stem with a polygonally-shaped portion, and a plurality of blocks rockingly-held on the casing and having plane surfaces engaging corresponding surfaces Kof saidlportion.

2. Valve arrangement comprising .a casing, a movable valve stem with a polygonally-shaped portion, and means for guiding the portion comprising a plurality of blocks each having a plane surface engaging a corresponding surfaceof the portion andfa vcylindrically-shaped surface rockingly;;enga'ging the casing.

3; Valve arrangement comprising a casing havingfaf; cylindrically-shaped flange, a movable valve stem with 'a portion square in cross section, fourgude;blockseach having a `pla-ne surface engagingl a; surface rof .thesquare-shaped portion and -a .cylindrically-shaped'4 surface ro ckingly held on'theflange.

4.1.Valve-- arrangement y comprising a casing forming aseat and acylindrically-shaped flanged support; a-valve stem having upper and lower portions; and means for guidingsaid portions comprising a polygon-ally-shaped sleeve secured to one portion. and-'aplurality of VVgui-de blocks each havingfafv plane surface engaging one of the plane surfacescof the sleeves andv a -cylindrical surface rockinglyfengaging: andjsupported on the cylindrically-fshaped flanged support.V

5. Valve arrangement comprising a casing forming a cylindrioally-shaped flange support, a movable valve stem with a polygonally-shaped portion, and means for guiding the portion comprising a plurality of guide blocks each having a plane surface engaging a corresponding surface of the polygonally-shaped portion and a cylindrically-shaped surface engaging and supported on the cylindrically--shaped flanged support, rthe radii of the cylindrical surfaces of the guide blocks being smaller than the radius of the cylindrical surface of the support and the blocks being loosely held on the support to permit rocking movement of the blocks and complete contact between said plane surfaces.

6. Gui-ding arrangement for a. valve mechanism with a polygonal reciprocating stem subject t0 side thrust'during operation comprising the combination of a guide support having a cylindrical surface and forming part of a valve casing, and a plurality of blocks each having a plane surface for engaging a corresponding surface ofa polygonally-shaped Valve .stem and a .cylndricallyshaped surface rockingly engaging the cylindrical surface of the support.

f 7. Guiding arrangement for valve mechanisms with reciprocating stem-comprising the combination-of a guide support having a cylindrical surface, and a sleeve forrattachmentto'-arvalve vstem to be guided, said sleeve having a plurality `of plane outer surfaces, a plurality of guide blocks having plane surfaces engaging the plane surfaces of the sleeve and cylindrical surfacesfengaging the cylindrical surface of the support, the radii of the cylindrical surfaces of the` blocks being smaller than the radius of the cylindrical surface of the support.

DONALD F. WARNER. 

